Jason Plato took his seventh win of the 2011 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship and closed the gap to the leading Honda pair to just six points with five races remaining in the season.

The Oxfordshire racer took his Silverlive Chevrolet Cruze from the lights to the flag in an uneventful race from his point of view and in the process took the maximum 18 points after taking the fastest lap of the race.

Mat Jackson resurrected the form which he showed earlier in the season and took his first points finish since Snetterton. The Henley-in-Arden racer was able to catch and eventually pass the Silverline Chevrolet Cruze of MacDowall after a race long battle to take the second spot on the grid thus demoting MacDowall to third.

James Nash, who started the race from third on the grid got a poor start and dropped down to 4th on the first lap. He would remain in 4th and take valuable points in his Independent Championship charge.

Tom Onslow-Cole came home in 5th ahead of Paul O’Neill and team-mate Tom Chilton, Rob Collard, Andy Neate and Nick Foster.

It was a torrid day for the championship leaders as Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden both suffered punctures late on in the race after running in positive positions and therefore took no points from the first race of the day.

Dan Welch looked to be set for his best race finish of the season when a mistake at Stirlings Bend saw the Proton Gen-2 run wide and run into the gravel causing damage to the front right wheel and ended his race prematurely.

Full race classification, click here.

Race Two grid, click here.

Photo Credit: Pete Mainey (www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)

James Mappin is the editor-in-chief covering the British Touring Car Championship. You can contact him at james@btcccrazy.co.uk, on twitter @BTCCCrazy or on his personal twitter account @jamesmappin.